'Women's tennis has a lot of big names': Naomi Osaka reacts to coach Mouratoglou's 'no superstars' comments

Naomi Osaka spoke about comments made by her coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who recently asserted that 'there are no big stars' in women's tennis. The Frenchman – former Serena Williams’ coach – defended the Roland Garros organization's decision not to schedule women's matches in the night sessions.

This indeed was one of the hot topics at Roland Garros: the absence of women's matches in the Philippe Chatrier night session, prioritizing men's matches throughout the tournament, something that had also occurred in the last two editions.

There were criticisms from several players – with Ons Jabeur being one of the most vocal about it – but tournament director Amelie Mauresmo defended the situation. According to the former French tennis player, it was due to the need to assure the public a certain amount of spectacle time and for television contracts. Only men could guarantee a longer match, as they necessarily play at least three sets.

“People, when they buy a ticket for the night session, they want to see a superstar,” said Mouratoglou during the tournament. “Swiatek, who is a four-time winner, and three in a row, she’s not a superstar. She’s not a superstar like Serena [Williams] when she was playing, like [Maria] Sharapova when she was playing,” said Mouratoglou.

The 4-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, preparing for Wimbledon, was asked precisely about her coach's remarks. The Japanese player admitted she hadn't heard Mouratoglou's opinion. “Oh, no, I didn’t hear that,” said Osaka. “But I don’t know, maybe we should do a powwow about the things that he says.

“Um. Totally off topic, but sometimes I scroll on Instagram and he pops up and I’m like, oh wow. And then I keep scrolling,” the former world No. 1 added. “You know what’s interesting is I’m probably the player that doesn’t pay attention to anything. Like, stuff that happens during tournaments, so usually I have someone update me, like, one of my team members.”

“But no, as regards to what he said, I didn’t know that the French Open didn’t schedule any women, but that’s kind of… for how long? But didn’t I play Iga [Swiatek] at night? Oh, that was, like, afternoon or something?”

“Um yeah, I mean, I think that’s kind of weird. Like, I do think women’s tennis has a lot of really big names or stars and I don’t know. I guess I’ll talk to him at practice about that today. I’ll let you know what he says.”